gkeyt

Hi all. Um...yeah. Been gone a while. It's good to get a little caught up on what y'all have been up to. I've had a lot going on this year which has kept me away. Anesthesia school is heating up for the home stretch (less than 12 months now). The beginning of the year was very rough. My husband was laid off from work. Then I found out his drinking had relapsed and he had a lot of trouble from that, and is in treatment. He spent some time in the hospital. We've both been in recovery since then. The economy being what it is, he still hasn't found work. Luckily it has been time well spent for his recovery. We're getting by, but we really hope he finds something soon. Needless to say, for a while my band was the last thing on my mind. I was down to about 165, but today I am 172. I had been thinking that this was higher than I was this time last year, but today I looked back at my stats and saw that I'm actually lower, and about the same as I was for the second half of last year. I'm not doing as poorly as I thought, but I do want to start working on getting to goal finally. That will involve a fill (it's been over a year since my last fill) and cutting out the evening sweets grazing. I'm impressed by how far so many of you have come. Hopefully I can get back on track and get down to my goal. Great to see you all here... gwen

I read a lot of blogs, and found one by a Texas lap band surgeon. He and his partner only do Lap Band surgery, because they feel the safety profile is the best, and because of its adjustability and removability. Here's a great post that I saw in there: In the Lap Band what we consider the 'sweet spot' is the ideal fill. If I had to think about a perfect sweet spot I'd have to tell you about a patient. One of our patients was 66 years old when he had his Lap Band surgery. Over the course of the first 9 months he lost over 90 pounds! But he was confused and every time we saw him he would say "Doc my Lap Band must be broken. I don't feel restriction, I can eat what I want, and I never have food come back up." That is the perfect sweet spot. The Lap Band was adjusted to the point that he felt control of his hunger and was able to control his eating portion size, but he had no significant restriction preventing him from eating any particular food nor did he ever have any regurgitation of food. Many people who had lap band surgery find the sweet spot elusive and some people end up with a fill greater than they need because they rely on the Lap Band for restriction rather than hunger control. If you are having a tough time keeping many foods down or having more than a small number of PBs (productive burps) you might be too tight and need some Fluid taken it. To summarize, the Lap Band is meant to help you with hunger control. By limiting the amount of food you eat with smaller portions, you can reduce your caloric intake, and lose weight. I often worry about my possibly less-than-ideal restriction, because so many people can eat a lot less than me and have vomiting/PB/sliming and all the other common lap band experiences. I have not ever had any of these. In fact, I haven't vomited since having surgery, even 1 time. And I can eat a good 2 cups of food if I'm not careful or if I try. But my hunger has been satisfied ever since about my 3rd fill. I do have to be careful about how much I eat--I have to do some of the work too, I can't rely on the band to do it all. And of course this holds true for food choices as well, and grazing, and head hunger/emotional eating...all things the band can't control. The "work" that the band does is control our hunger...NOT prevent us from eating too much. Do not try to challenge your band and then be surprised that you can "eat too much"--try to learn how to stop before the band "makes" you stop. Feeling full with a band is different than "full" was before being banded--most of us ate until we were stuffed before, but that is way past too much food now. Often the band will let you know if you get to that point, but the trick is to learn NOT to challenge how much your banded stomach can take! I hope this helps some people out there! Here's the address for the blog if you want to check it out: Texas Arkansas Lap Band Blog from Texarkana: October 2007 I am not affiliated with this doctor or his website in any way. I just found this out there and thought it might be helpful to others. Best of luck to all.

Hi everyone, I have a question about coverage for fills. I had surgery in Portland, OR in March 2007. At the time everything was covered by my insurance. I just moved to Spokane, WA, and it looks like bariatric treatment is excluded from my new PHCO plan (through Sacred Heart MC). I was referred to Dr Pennings in Idaho by my surgeon, Dr Emma Patterson. I will need to be seen again in March for my 1 year visit, and I was curious: has anyone ever gotten anything POST OP paid for by PHCO? Just wondering. I'm looking into the cash costs for everything and just trying to sort it all out. Thanks. Gwen

Hey Janine, congrats on being rebanded! Sorry I'm late to the party...I have been so busy this term. Is it easier the second time, now that you know what to expect? I've heard from some that rebanding (or any revision) is harder to recover from, because the scar tissue makes the surgery more technically difficult (and longer). But I wonder if Bandster Hell is easier when you have an idea how long it lasts, and maybe even since you spent so long with no band...just thoughts. I'm so happy for you!:rolleyes2: Juli, I really liked what you wrote about not comparing yourself to others, and your other thoughts in your post. This does become like a diet after a while, in a way--or it probably should if we are to continue all the way to goal. Some make it there without going into diet mode, but just eating smaller portions of junk food can only get you so far. I'm well into that kind of "diet fatigue" phase by now. I'm tired of making the right decision all the time, and my occasional treats become much more regular than they should. And it's much easier to make the wrong decision--not only because it's what I want to do, but because time and trying to eat between classes, when stuck at the hospital, etc etc...factors add up that make it so much easier to make choices that don't support continuing weight loss. This semester, I think if I make it through without gaining I'll be doing well. But I do want to get to goal...perhaps it will happen before the end of the year, perhaps not. Jeni, I hope things are looking better for you. If insomnia is really plaguing you now, I'd consider going back for that sleep aid for a limited period of time--no more than a week, just to break the cycle. You don't want to depend on it to sleep. But during super stressful times--for me, when I was just starting my divorce proceedings from my ex years ago--it can help break that insomnia cycle. And exercise really helps, too. Take care, and I hope things get better! Everyone, I hope folks are doing well!

Wow. I missed most of August and all of September so far with the Marchies. Where did the summer go? Well, I was on vacation for 2 weeks over my anniversary and birthday. We had a great vacation (Oregon coast) and I gained 4 lbs, from 167 to 171. Isn't it weird how you can be at a weight that a year ago you could only dream about, but now it feels FAT because you've regained it? So weird. I totally feel fat, but it's just 4 lbs that are hanging on. Still running, still mostly doing the same things. I totally challenged my band on vacation, though. I think I'm due for a visit to the surgeon again just to make sure everything is as it should be. School is marching along too. Have been in the OR all summer, learning lots. Anesthesia is complex, and we're just now getting to the point of learning how much more there is to learn. But it's been going well. I'm getting tired of getting up at 4am though!!! Still running. About 12 miles per week now, I was higher before but it just hasn't been happening. That's it with me. Sounds like folks are doing okay for the 18 month point. Juli, saw your grad photos, CONGRATS! You looked super cute in your little dress and your cap and gown. It must feel great to have accomplished your degree after so much work. This was your MBA right? Janine, I am so glad you are getting your band back and SOON. I can't imagine what it must be like to lose it. OMG. Best to you and keep us posted on how everything goes. I'm curious to hear how the new band is compared to the one most of us Marchies have (probably all of us) so you can't leave the Marchies! Best to everyone, keep on trucking. Gwen

C sections and laparoscopic surgery are two totally different cases and need different anesthesia techniques. The standard of care for any laparoscopic surgery is general anesthesia with endotracheal tube because the pressure created by filling the abdomen with CO2 gas makes it likely that you would aspirate stomach contents into the lungs without an ET tube. Also a chemical paralytic is used during the surgery and whenever that is used, you need a machine to breathe for you, so you get a breathing tube. C sections don't have these issues. It's not a matter of the tugging and pulling--we do hip replacements under spinal anesthesia with sedation, and believe me there is tugging and pulling (and pounding) during that. Also a previous poster mentioned doing spinal with nitrous--I don't understand what they mean by that. did you mean using nitrous to fill the abdomen instead of CO2? Because that isn't done--nitrous expands any air-filled space, so even inhaled nitrous isn't used during laparoscopic surgery, plus I'm not sure what the purpose or benefit would be. If you meant that they use inhaled nitrous with spinal anesthesia, that's theoretically possible but for the reasons mentioned previously, spinals are not used for laparoscopic surgery, including lap band.

Wow, guys, I've been away for a while. The OR is taking all my time and energy this summer. It's good though, I'm starting to get my stuff together in there and really enjoy what I'm doing. Tia, wow that is scary. I'm glad you're doing better now. Those big fills are so tempting, aren't they? But TROUBLE. So glad you are doing better now. 69 lbs, that is so awesome! Jeni, I hope you've had your surgery by now. You'll feel so much better. The GB surgery is harder than lap band in some ways, but at the same time you will recover so much better now that you've lost so much weight than when you had your band surgery. And the risk of the surgery and anesthesia is lower because you're so much healthier. All that nausea and vomiting can't be helping your band--I hope you are all fixed by now! Hugs! Juli, you are still losing weight! I mean, you say you're stalled but everytime I see your ticker and your signature, your weight is lower. Maybe it seems like you are stalled because it is slower than the first year was. But from over here it looks like you're still doing pretty good. Why so hard on yourself? You are exercising and you're getting your MBA. I've been telling myself that any weight lost during grad school is a victory--not just school but all the other shite that goes along with being in school, i.e. long distance relationship, being a parent, working etc. etc. Maybe I'm just seeing the result of your recent change of heart/habits. But it seems like you've been losing the whole time, just a bit slower. Anyway, don't know if another perspective helps or not. But I think you're awesome.:biggrin: Tammyj, looking great! WOW! I finally made it to the 160s this week-now I'm 8 lbs from goal. Whoa! Usually I hit a new low weight, then immediately bounce back up and slowly come back down to that weight. So far this one is sticking, which is great. Still running, eating is going pretty well. I also walk or bike to school most days of the week now. My last fill was in May and I don't think I need another anytime soon. I don't have classes now, just clinicals 5 days a week until the new semester starts in September, so that's nice, even though it's also pretty stressful. At least I'm doing what I came here to do now, which is really cool. And I get 2 weeks of vacation after next week--I can hardly wait! Everybody, I hope the summer is going well!

That's an interesting question, Jeni. There's been a fair amount of research showing that obese women don't get as good quality health care as normal weight women because they don't want to see the doctor and be told they are obese, and they don't feel they are treated as well. I know, that's a big "duh" for us. But it could be that we're more willing to investigate things once we've lost weight, especially since everything happening now is "different" since we've had WLS. We're more tuned into our health. Also, like Juli said, our bodies have to adjust so much to the major weight loss. Things reveal themselves as we lose the weight. And you probably know that major weight loss puts us at risk of gallbladder issues, because we are processing so much fat that is being metabolized from our bodies. That's why some band surgeons just electively remove the GB at the same time as band surgery, and others put their patients on medication to prevent GB problems for 6 months or a year. So, those are some of my thoughts about it. As for me, I feel like I haven't been in the doctor's office much in the last 9 months, not counting fills. I saw my Portland PCP in December before I moved, and then had to follow up with the new ARNP in Spokane (who I really liked a lot) about the breast lump. Once that was sorted out, I've felt pretty healthy. ThickChick, I'm sorry to hear about your break up. I hope you are doing okay! Things are going okay here. Weight loss is at a snail's pace. Stress seems to make things worse, so I try not to worry too much. I don't think it's a fill issue, I think I just have to be more careful now than I used to about my calories. But since we just started doing full cases in the OR last week, it hasn't really been my top priority. It's been scary and stressful! :thumbup: But really fun, too. Today I did the anesthetic for a patient who was donating his kidney to his brother. It was pretty cool. Ok, off to study!

Well...they keep you as covered as possible. But when you need to have your stomach prepped from nipples to groin, that leaves you pretty exposed. If you were having knee surgery, you would be much more covered the whole time, but you can't help but have everything below your armpits hanging out when you have abdominal surgery. They are usually pretty careful about making sure only necessary personnel are there when you're being prepped, and once the drapes go on the only thing exposed is the surgical field (belly). Ask the surgeon if he is willing to make a tape of your procedure. That's possible with a laparoscope. But HIGHLY unlikely that they'd permit a friend or family member to actually be there in the operating room. If the surgeon won't record the surgery for you, there are lots of videos on the internet to show your husband exactly what will happen, if that helps.

I guess I should clarify. I took Luvox for its antidepressant effect. It is an SSRI (same drug class as Prozac).

In my experience, it DOES get better. But it hasn't ever completely gone away. It becomes less intense and easier to deal with, I think. But there are still days when my head thinks it knows better than my stomach. I doubt that will ever completely stop being a problem. About the Luvox, I was taking it for years and stopped taking it about 3 months after I was banded. I never noticed any difference in head hunger, but I did lose 5 pounds after I stopped taking it. YMMV.

Hi everyone! Can you believe it's already July? I'm happy to see folks checking in. I'm rolling along...school going okay, we have a long weekend for the 4th so I'm going home to Portland. I was down to 171 until TOM rolled into town...so I have a few days to wait for the Water weight to go away and I'm back in business, I hope. I'm not changing my ticker, though! :thumbup: Have a great 4th, everyone.

Check with your band surgeon. Doxycycline is a good drug for skin infections, but you might need it in a different form (it's available as a liquid, which might help) or your band doc might want you on something different. There are other options, so you might need to be on something different. Good luck.

Sometimes fills can take as long as a few weeks to really "kick in". It has more to do with your stomach tissue than the fluid--the fluid flows pretty freely between the tubing and the band. That's part of why they don't recommend getting fills more frequently than every 4 weeks. Your stomach tissues are very sensitive and it can take a while for it to settle into your new fill. You are doing great at less than 2 months out--just learn to listen to your "soft" stop, not waiting until the pain-in-chest feeling comes, to stop eating! It's all a learning process.

Yes, unfortunately this isn't really uncommon. Lots of people try to nurse along a too-tight fill and have just the same problems that you have had. It's important to always keep your fill loose enough that you can take in solid lean protein, for safe weight loss. Hopefully your unfill and liquids will heal your dilated pouch. Often that is all it takes. But be sure to keep a close eye on things, if you are still having symptoms or if this doesn't clear up with the unfill and liquids you could have a more serious problem like a slip. Good luck and I hope things are going better soon.

Ideally, doctors and anesthesia providers would ask you to quit for at least 2 months and closer to 6 months prior to elective surgery. However, we all realize that this isn't realistic for everyone. You should know that you get the most benefit for reducing complications related to anesthesia if you have quit smoking 8 weeks (2 months) prior to your anesthesia. What you do beyond that is really a discussion for you and your surgeon and anesthesia provider, but whatever you do, be sure you are honest about your smoking. It really impacts how your anesthesia care is provided and can really make a difference in how you do. They know what to expect better if they know you've smoked in the last month, or week, or 24 hours, rather than lying about it. Recent smoking can make your airway more reactive, more difficult to intubate, can make you more prone to bronchospasm and laryngospasm, and can alter your oxygenation capabilities, among other things. As far as the band itself, as others have said the only real effect would be on your wound healing post op.

I think that was Whitepants' suggestion for the title. How are we doing? I'm on a 1 month plateau now, which isn't terrible, but isn't great either. But I'm gonna lick it! I guess what I'm eating now is what it takes to maintain this weight at my current activity level. So I'm going to track what I'm eating on fitday for a couple of days, and see what I need to get my intake down to to start losing again. My exercise is fine--I'm running every other day (this week I'll do 14 miles, I did 18 last week and it was too much, too fast), swimming 2 days a week and lifting weights. So it's all eating. I've been enjoying eating out with friends and hubby a little too much, and not watching what I eat as closely. So I'm also going to plan my meals ahead. You know, back to basics. If I do all these things and I'm getting hungry or still not losing weight, I might go in for a fill--but I really think I'm at an okay level right now. Anyone else? Are we getting out of our May blues yet? Hope we have a great June!

I had port discomfort when I started running earlier this year, but it went away as my abs got in better shape. I think 6 weeks sounds about right for when you can start working your abs. I can't remember exactly what my doc told me, but I think that was it.

Everyone's posts are right on the money. I really liked what Coach Cher had to say. These are great. I also wanted to add, though, just for the curious: There IS a scientific reason that the band is tighter in the mornings. When you sleep at night, you are flat on your back instead of upright. The esophagus constricts slightly and the tissue swells a bit. This is normal, and it prevents us from aspirating our stomach contents when we sleep. This happens to everyone, but most people don't have a band on their stomachs so they never notice it. When your restriction loosens up in the evening, it's because you've been upright for most of the day and the swelling in your stomach and esophagus has gone down. These are normal responses of your tissue--not a sign that anything is wrong. This also goes for when you suddenly notice that the band seems tighter one day than before--in all likelihood your stomach has gotten swollen for one of a hundred different reasons, and has gotten tighter--NOT the band itself. Great thread!

I think that's one of the biggest myths about the Lap Band, that "sweet eaters" can't be successful with it. I consider myself successful, being 12 pounds away from goal, and I was a huge sweets eater. I still love sweets, but since I don't eat them often I no longer usually crave them. I do think it's important to learn how to have them occasionally, because after about a year of following the straight and narrow, it's easy to start slipping back into old habits. Learning how to keep things in check and how to enjoy treats in moderation has helped tremendously. Of course, I still have my moments when I overindulge, but thankfully they are pretty infrequent these days. Learning how to manage "trigger foods" without binging, and how to deal with all the emotional aspects of eating, are the real work of the Lap Band, and I don't think one can be successful at this without dealing with these things, even if you don't figure them all out perfectly. The band definitely helps--but it's just the start. It's pretty easy to defeat the band if you really want to.

I don't think there is a Fill Center USA location in the Portland area. There wasn't the last time I looked. Try calling Dr Emma Patterson's office at Oregon Weight Loss Surgery. They're in Portland. They are great. I don't know if they take other surgeons' patients or not. I had my surgery there and my original surgeon actually left the practice to move back to Canada with his family, but Emma and her partner Jay Jan did my followup and they were terrific. Emma also referred me to a surgeon to continue my followup when I moved to Spokane this year. I think the surgeons are starting to realize that people just don't stay in one area for the rest of their lives after being banded. It would help if you got a referral from your original surgeon, and if you sent them copies of your records from your surgeon and your follow up appointments. That helps them have some more info about your surgery and get a feel for what your surgeon was like, and it seems to help if you're trying to find a new person to do follow up. Oregon Weight Loss Surgery's number is is 503-227-5050. Good luck!

Does he have a partner that will do your aftercare? Or is he referring you to someone? My surgeon moved back to Canada about a month after my surgery. He was in a practice with 2 other surgeons though, and they did all my aftercare, which was great. I was a little sad to lose my surgeon, though. Good luck with your surgery!

Now that you seem to be getting the immediate problem under control, definitely increase your fluid intake, and make sure to get good fiber in your diet. We get very focused on protein, but lots of protein + no fiber=stuck! Beans have been my friend lately. They have protein themselves, plus lots of good fiber. Prunes, if you like them, also work well. A few is a good snack and has vit C too. And I make up little baggies of shredded mini wheats to take with me to work--12 of the bite sized ones are 100 calories and have a lot of fiber. Good for a snack. There are lots of other ways to get the fiber into your diet--you don't want to go there again!!! Good luck!

Oh, Denise, I feel your pain. I had such a time with the UTIs for a long while. I finally had to take quite a bit of cranberry extract every single day (still do) and I think the most helpful thing was using wipes during/before sex. We change positions a lot and when we looked at things that might be causing all the UTIs, we finally thought that maybe it was worse when we were changing positions--esp. going from me on bottom (liquid goes down toward the bacteria) to me on top (bacteria + liquid go back towards urethra). So we started wiping with those sanitary wipes (like baby wipes for adults) every time we changed positions. At first it was a pain, but it really helps and now it's totally habit. It reduced the frequency of the UTIs a lot--I was on the verge of going on full-time antibiotics as well, and I didn't want to do that because of risk of getting resistant bacteria. BBK, I also have problems with BV which is what you are describing--yep, it's the pH, and guys with high sperm counts especially have relatively alkaline (high pH) semen which causes more problems for us. I used the boric acid suppositories but they didn't seem to help much. But I wanted to let you know that you don't have to take oral flagyl (metronidazole)--you can either take vaginal flagyl ointment for 7 days, or clindamyacin (Clindesse) vaginal for ONE day. So much better than weeks of not being able to drink alcohol! And do have your hubby treated with flagyl too--even though he doesn't have symptoms, he can still be passing it back to you. That does help as well. It's such a pain.

Hmm...I never had underwire problems, but my incisions were all low enough to never pose a problem. I have always worn underwire bras, when I was a 38H (in 2001, before breast reduction), when I was a 38C (post reduction) and now at 34D. I just find them the most comfortable and supportive. That would have REALLY bugged me if my incisions had prevented me from wearing underwires! DEFINITELY ask your surgeon about the incision placement...there really isn't any reason why you should require incisions that high. As for BR, when you have gotten to or near goal weight, you should go see a PS for a consult. (Actually, see a few. It's better than having regrets later.) They can tell you if you ought to wait until after having children to have the reduction. It seems most surgeons don't recommend waiting unless you are planning on children very soon, or are really intent upon breast feeding (it's possible, but not as likely, and it can affect the cosmetic result of your surgery). Other than those things, I would say don't wait any longer than you have to--life is so much better after the surgery!! And at your size, you shouldn't have any trouble being approved by insurance for breast reduction. I don't know about a redo, but your reduction will very likely be covered. Good luck with your upcoming banding!